Likelihood to Recommend

ActiveDEMAND

When choosing a marketing automation system, it is important to think of what exactly you want it to do. I think no matter what you are hoping to get out of a marketing automation platform, you can achieve it with ActiveDEMAND. It can be used for simple/basic marketing email sending and campaign execution or it can be used to develop a microsite, create sales and marketing kiosks, run multi-step campaigns, host protected assets or whatever you want to do with it. You can easily choose (or ignore) the modules and features to be as creative as you choose to be.

Salesfusion

Salesfusion is a marketing automation platform more appropriate for small companies considering the limited functionalities are limited. The email builder tool is easy to use and ideal for someone with no coding knowledge

API

Role-based workflow & approvals

Customizability

Integration with Salesforce.com

ActiveDEMAND

10.0

Salesfusion

9.2

Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM

ActiveDEMAND

10.0

Salesfusion

—

Integration with SugarCRM

ActiveDEMAND

10.0

Salesfusion

—

Pros

ActiveDEMAND

Template development and brand management - ActiveDEMAND makes it simple to maintain your brand identity and a consistent look and feel across campaigns using templates and brand identities that are easy to set up and easy to incorporate into every piece of collateral you develop.

Use of variables for replicated content - This is super convenient! Templates can be created and then the campaign can be cloned (in its entirety or just the assets you need) and reused allowing for simple updates to be made to the variables in minutes. This makes executing campaigns very simple and quick once your templates are built the way you want them.

Responsive design - This is a MUST in modern digital marketing and ActiveDEMAND does this really well. You can view all screen size renders as previews as you build your assets and all the modules are built to work with responsive technology so you can be confident that the assets you create and share with customers won't break and will look great on all devices.

It just works. - Everything from creating logic steps to editing the items you create just works really really well.

Support - the support team has been amazing. Live chat and ticket submission facilities make it easy to get help when you need it and tickets are resolved quickly and effectively. There is also a good knowledge base of self help articles available online.

Cons

ActiveDEMAND

Reporting - Though the reporting is extensive and very very good... I sometimes miss a simplified view of email opens/clicks/link clicks etc.

Don't get me wrong, you can get to this data in ActiveDEMAND relatively easily, the default views through the campaign dashboard are just quite detailed (which some people would probably prefer) and I just don't think that we need that level of reporting on first glance. That being said, I do love the option to drill down and uncover the complex detailed data when i do want it (ActiveDEMAND is very good at this).

One element of reporting that I would also like would be an event registrant report showing all registered people (this part exists) and their responses on the registration form they completed to register for the event. (These things would be dietary restrictions, industry, customized responses to other event related questions).

I also wish the reports autorefreshed more frequently.

ICS Files - Right now there are work arounds for loading an ICS file (Calendar meeting invite file) that can be accessed in campaign assets. I just wish this was more native to the tool.

Archive Filing - Now, first of all, it is so amazing that ActiveDEMAND even has an archiving feature... I LOVE this. One small downside, however, is that the archiving cannot be organized using a folder structure or anything. I would like to be able to group my live events together, then group my webinars together etc.

Salesfusion

They recently changed the interface and I am not a fan. I preferred the grey background because it was easier on my eyes. The menus are modern and pop out from the side, but sometimes I find them to be in the way.

When I am looking at past emails I wold like to copy I would like to be able to see an image of the email so I choose the correct one. I think it would be helpful to see the open rate, click through and unsubscribes so I pick the most effective one to copy. This info is all available, but could be in the screen I am choosing from to make it faster.

Likelihood to Renew

ActiveDEMAND

Salesfusion

Salesfusion 10.0

Based on 3 answers

We are happy with the overall product, the support and the results we get from the system. The product is continually getting enhancements and upgrades and they communicate those really well. The support team is very nice and willing to help with the project I am working on. In the past 90 days SalesFUSION has helped us send over 130,000 emails

Support

ActiveDEMAND

Salesfusion

Salesfusion 8.2

Based on 1 answer

The support team has always been helpful, friendly, prompt and knowledgeable. They follow-up on all my tickets promptly and when needed are available for screen sharing to illustrate solutions for more complex problems. The support department at Salesfusion is one of my favorite things about the platform.

Alternatives Considered

ActiveDEMAND

ActiveDEMAND is much more robust than most of the above products. It does more and provides more detailed analytics. It is also very user friendly. The user interface is nice and it is very easy to navigate the tool. The brand identity and replicated content are two areas where ActiveDEMAND really shines compared to competitors.

Salesfusion

I was using Net-Results and it seemed more geared for an experienced marketer who was familiar with HTML and didn't need as much training. I found the system frustrating and didn't have much success when I called in for training. I was brand new to automation marketing and needed more hand-holding than Net-Results was able to provide

Salesfusion

We have been able to spread the word about our products through the partner channel because we can brand emails and send them from the partner's email address. We can control the message and flow better and even incorporate some of their other products to help them in their marketing efforts.

Our webinars are better attended because we can send follow-up emails to people who opened an email but did not click through. We can copy the email and then make some tweaks so it speaks to the fact that they clicked but did not register. Simultaneously we can send the same email to a group who did not open with a subject swap. We get a much higher attendance because of this.

ActiveDEMAND Editions & Modules

Edition

Additional Pricing Details

Salesfusion

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Yes

Entry-level set up fee?

Required

Salesfusion Editions & Modules

Edition

Core

$1,0001

Database size

Additional Pricing Details

Prices listed are monthly subscription rates. Our packages include live support and training. Additional charges apply for contact databases above 10k, dedicated IPs, CRM integration and sandboxes. Please complete the form on our site to request a quote based on your specific needs.